Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 10/30/22 Alteration or Transformation?

Episode Date: October 29, 2022

Homily from the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time. Zacchaeus knew that he was a bad man. What he didn't know was if he could be different. Too many of us come to Jesus with the idea that He is willing to change us and change our lives. But what happens when we want Him to merely offer cosmetic changes and He wants to make structural changes? Mass Readings from October 30, 2022: Wisdom 11:22-12:2 Psalms 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-142 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2 Luke 19:1-10

Welcome to Sunday homilies with me, Father Mike Schmitz. I hope today's homily inspires and motivates you, and I also hope that it leaves you hungry for the one who gave everything to feed you. If you want to get this in other Sunday Mass resources sent straight to your inbox, sign up at ascensionpress.com slash Sunday, or by texting Sunday to 33777. You can also follow or subscribe on your podcast app for weekly notifications. God bless. The Lord be with you.

and reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke. Chapter 19, verses 1 through 10. At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now, a man there named Zechius, who was chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was, but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way.

When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, Zakias, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house. And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner. But Zakias stood there and said to the Lord, behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor. And if I have extorted anything from anyone,

I shall repay it four times over. And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this house. Because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the son of man has come to seek and to save what was lost. The gospel of the Lord. So there are some, there's some TV, there's some channels on TV that are just, they like suck you in and they do not let go.

I'm not going to say Hallmark channels is one of those, but I know some of you. I know some of you. But one of the channels for me, it's crazy. I don't know why. HGTV. some of the finest programming out there when it comes to, and it comes to, like, addictive programming. I mean, how many different, like, house hunting shows

do you have to make? Like, there's house hunters. There's house hunter international. There's tiny house hunters. There's house hunters Caribbean. I mean, there's all different variations. There's property brothers, these two brothers, right? One sells the house, the other, reno is the house.

Speaking of renovation, all the renovation shows. I mean, just, like, think of flip or flop, right? Or there is renovation of possible good bones, which is great. You have the classic, you have the OG, fixer-upper, Chip, Joanna? How can you not love them? How can you not start watching one of those shows and be like, I need to find out all the drama. Like, what's going to happen?

There's black mold. What are they going to do? You need to know the answer, but it's interesting. Not only are these great, you know, when I say great TV, you know what I'm saying? Air quotes, but still, it's great. It's compelling. When it comes to those home renovation shows, I've kind of noticed that there are, and I've done some research, I've noticed there's two kinds of different clients.

There's two different kinds of clients. There's the one that they're saying, yeah, we want to bring the professional in, but we like our house. We just want you to kind of spruce it up a little bit. Like, we like it, but it's kind of drab. It's kind of old. So just we want you to make it pop.

Like make it something incredible. And there's the other people who are saying, oh, no, we can't live like this anymore. Like people who say, you need to come professional. You need to come to our house because like with these kids, with their toys, we're working for home now. We're on top of each other. I don't care what you need to do.

just fix it. Like do whatever you need to do. If you need to knock down a wall, we don't care. These two different people. One is interested in cosmetic changes. Just spruce it up. The other, they're interested in structural changes. I've been thinking about this because of the fact that, you know, the last week we had Jesus, who was offering a comparison, right? Jesus is a parable last week. If you remember, it was the two people came up to the temple area. There was the Pharisee and the tax collector. And Jesus was comparing and contrasting them. Well, today in the gospel, there's another contrast, there's another comparison, but we only get one part of the comparison.

We get the story in Luke 19, that was what we just heard, Luke 19 of the story of Zekeos. In Zekees, we know, tax collector, chief tax collector, wealthy, which means basically Zekees is a bad guy. In fact, the story we heard today is the story of a bad man who wanted to see Jesus. What we didn't hear was Luke 18. This was Luke 19. What we didn't hear was Luke 18. In Luke 18, there's a story of the rich young man. You probably know that story, right?

The rich young man who's also, he also wants to see Jesus. But it's interesting because the rich young man is a good man who wants to see Jesus. This is the comparison. Today we heard about a bad man who wants to see Jesus. Luke 18 is the story of a good man who wanted to see Jesus. And so let's go back to Luke 18. Let's go back to the rich young man. So what happens?

You already know this story. Let's sum up. The rich young man comes up to Jesus and he asks the question. he says, what must I do to inherit eternal life? We need to start by saying he's asking a good question. He's interested in, I want to get to heaven. How do I do it? What do I have to do next?

And as we know, Jesus says, well, you know the commandments. Honor your father and mother. Don't steal. Don't commit adultery. All the things. And the rich young man, he stands there and he says, actually, you might not know this, Jesus. I obeyed every one of those since I was a kid.

I've kept all those commandments ever since I was a youth. So here's what we realize. We realize that the rich young man is a good kid. Rich young man is a good guy. In fact, rich young man is kind of like he's, well, I always think of him as a good church kid. And we all know good church kids. Maybe you grew up as a good church kid.

Maybe you went to religious ed. And you're like, yeah, I kind of like, I do all the things. Like I know what to do when it comes to church. I don't really break the rules. I don't really rebel against the Lord. Don't really rebel against the church. You're a good church kid. Maybe that was you.

Or maybe you know someone like that. Maybe you even went to Catholic school. And there's a good thing about going to Catholic school. Because you get to know stuff. But there's a bad thing about going to Catholic school because we can know the stuff but not do the stuff. Now, here is the rich young man who knows the stuff and he actually even does the stuff.

He knew the commandments. He actually even obeyed the commandments. And we have to highlight this. This is really good. He's not doing something bad. But there's a problem with it. it. There's a problem with being a good person. And the problem is, if you know, if you're a good person and you come to Jesus, sometimes we approach Jesus and we're merely curious. Like we go up to Jesus

and say, hey Jesus, is there anything I need to tweak? Like, is there anything I need to kind of sort of adjust? And that's what he asks. Is there anything I need to kind of tweak in my life? Does I'm a good guy. And Jesus, what does he say? He says, okay, well, yeah, you are a good guy, but you lack one thing. It's a big thing. He says, go, sell what you have, give it to the poor, and then come follow me. Luke, when he describes this, he says, when he heard this, he became quite sad. Because here's the expectation. Here's the expectation he had was, well, I'm not a bad person. I'm a good person. therefore, Jesus, all you need to make is some cosmetic changes. It's like inviting the professionals into your house and say,

I'm interested in a house remodel. And then all of a sudden they start knocking down walls and they start digging up stuff. And you're like, no, no, no, no. I thought you were going to put in some lascanses on the wall, maybe some window treatments. Maybe, maybe you'd tear up the carpet. And we discover these incredible hardwood floors underneath my, like, because I was interested in alterations. But Jesus is asking for transformation.

I was interested in cosmetic changes. Jesus is interested in structural changes, and you have to understand, this crushed him. The rich young man, it crushed him. Now, Luke, he says, when he heard this, he became quite sad. That's our English translation.

The word that Luke actually uses to describe what happened internally to this guy is the same word that Luke uses to describe Jesus as agony in the Garden of Gthemeny. Would you describe Jesus in the Garden of Githemite? as quite sad. No, Luke says he was in such agony that he actually sweat blood. That's the exact same word that he uses to describe this man. It crushed him. It crushed him. Why? Because he had many possessions, it said. I want to talk about this for a second. He didn't just have possessions.

He had possessions and he had performance, meaning he had a lot of good things and he did a lot of good things. Why? Because he's a good guy. He's a good church kid. He had both possessions and performance. He had a lot of good things and he did a lot of good things. And here's that interesting thing. Our possessions, they offer us two things. Well, actually, our possessions and our performance can offer us two things. Our possession, we want to hold onto it sometimes because it gives us status. That, it tells me who I am. Or our performance. Our performance can often give us status. Like, I want to know where I kind of rank among the level of people who are trying to be good. If I do all the good things, I have that good performance, that I have status. This is who I am. Whether it's my wealth, my

possessions, or whether it's my things I do, my performance, so often we can grasp onto that status. This tells me who I am. This is, this tells me what I'm worth. Possessions and performance also give us security. That sometimes our possessions or our performance tell us how safe we are. I don't have to worry why I got a bunch of stuff. I don't have to worry why I do a bunch of good stuff. And so these possessions and these performance, they give us two things, status and security. They tell us who I am and tell us how safe I am. They tell us what I'm worth and they reveal to us in what I trust. I think it's fascinating. Status can be motivated by the esteem of others. What do other people think? And security can often be motivated by the fear of the unknown or fear

of scarcity. And we have to understand that these two things, possessions and performance, they could be anything. It could be money, but it also could be appearance. It also could be that sense of like, you have a sense of status because like, oh, no, I look a certain way. The possessions, the performance could also be, they could be accomplishment. I've achieved all these things, but also could be simply like, actually, I'm a nice person. And people know that I'm a nice person. I don't want to give up that. I don't want to give up the fact that people know that I'm a nice person because that's what I hold on to. That's what gives me status. That's what gives me security. Again, this is seen so often in good people.

whether that's performance. Maybe you're someone who, like, people know you as being really charming. Maybe you know yourself as being someone who's really successful. Do well at school, do well at sports. Maybe even, like, a lot of good friends, a lot of people want to be around you. In fact, one of the things is sometimes the tricky thing is when we combine these. It's not just one thing. It's like, no, I'm not just a scholar.

I'm a scholar-athlet. I'm not just a scholar-athlet. I'm a scholar-athlet. who goes to church? And that kind of thing can be what gives me status to who I am. Or it gives me security. That's what I trust in. Imagine being asked to release your grip on what gives you status.

Imagine being asked to release your grip on what gives you security. It could seem impossible. And that's where I think this rich young man is. That's why he's crushed in this moment because, wait a second, This is everything I trust, and this is who I am. Now, we might ask the question at this point. You might be thinking, okay, that's fine about the rich young man. That's Luke 18, Father.

Why talk about the rich young man when the gospel today is about Zakias? Great question, Camper. The answer is because I'm afraid. What I mean is, I'm afraid that too many of us are more like the rich young man than we are like Zakias. I'm afraid that too many of us are clinging to our possessions I'm afraid that too many of us are clinging to our performance

I'm afraid that too many of us are clinging to our appearance and I'm afraid that too many of us are clinging to what offers us status and to what offers us security I'm afraid that too many of us when it comes to Jesus we want to see him but we want to see him because we're merely curious not because we're desperate because we're just curious

not because we're desperate that we merely want to improve instead of realizing that we're lost. I just want to kind of be better rather than realizing, no, I'm lost. You know, when a person is lost, or when a person is in a crisis, so if you're a first responder, if you're a paramedic, if you're a nurse or doctor, anyone trained in medical professional as a medical professional, you know this. When someone's in crisis, you come upon them that one of the things you need to establish is how alert and oriented they are. In fact, there's like four levels of being alert and oriented.

So there's alert and oriented times one. To be alerted and oriented times one means you're oriented toward yourself. So you know who you are. That's why people come upon someone who's in crisis, right, who's lost and say, hello, what's your, do you know your name? That's alert and oriented oriented times one. If you're alerted and oriented times two, you know your name and you know what time it is. That's why people say, who is the president?

What year is it? That kind of thing. You're alert and oriented towards time and self. That's alert and oriented times two. if you're alert and oriented times three, you know your name, you know when it is, you also know where you are. Again, medical professionals, you guys, this is all review for you. Like, where are you? If you're alerted and oriented times four, that means you not only know who you are, you know when it is, you know where you are, you also know how you got there. I guess you're on highway

371, and you were in an accident. That's being alert and oriented times four. You know who you are, when you are, where you are, and you know how you got there. Zakias in today's gospel, I think that while he is lost, he is alert and oriented times four. Because Zakias, he knew who he had,

Zikaas knew who he had become. He knew who he was. I think Zekees, I'm guessing that Zekees wasn't young. I'm thinking Zekees was a little bit older. I think Zekees was, he knew that he was late in life, and he had used his youth to become wealthy, and now Timor was running out. He knew when he was.

I believe that Zakias also knew where he stood in the community. He knew, he knew that he was hated in the community. So he knew who he was, when he was, where he was, and I'm convinced that Zakias knew that he had gotten there through one compromise at a time. I think he knew how he ended up where he was. So I have this sense that Zakias, he knew that his possessions meant nothing. I mean, I think he'd live long enough to realize the emptiness of his status, right?

The emptiness of his security. I mean, I think he realized also he had no status. We have this part of the story that says he climbed a sycamore tree. And some people will say that, you know, in the ancient time, it was undignified for a man to climb a second mar tree. I don't know if that's true or not, but I do know this. I know adults only climb trees when they don't care what other people think about them. Zekees knew he had no status. He knew people had thought about it. And also, here's the thing about Zekees. Zakias knew that he was a bad guy. Zikaas, not just that. Zakias knew that he was a villain. How do we know this?

Because when Jesus calls his name, what does he say? He says, if I have defrauded anyone, I will pay them back four times over. You know, in the old, Testament, if you stole from someone, restitution would mean you would give them back what you stole plus 20%. Zakias said, I will pay them back four times over because in the book of Exodus, it says this, if you ever destroy someone's ox, you kill their sheep, you have to replace that sheep times four. Zekees didn't just pay back what he owed plus 20%. He paid back four times. Why? because he knew that he hadn't just stolen from people. He knew that he had ruined people's lives.

He knew that his choices had ruined people's lives. He knew he was a bad man. What he didn't know, what he didn't know was if there was any hope for him. Like he knew where he was, he knew who he was, he knew how he got there, what he didn't know if it would ever be possible for him to be different.

He knew who he was, he didn't know if it would ever be possible for him to be changed. He knew he was lost. When he didn't know if it ever be possible for him to be found. And I think this is the primary difference, right between the rich young man and Zekees. The rich young man was curious. Zakias was desperate. The rich young man, he wanted alteration.

The rich young man, he knew that he needed transformation. And while the rich young man was doing fine, Zikaeus was lost. And I love this because what is Jesus, happens in the gospel. Jesus comes along Zechias to Zekees, and he looks up in the tree, and he says Zekees' name. This is the first time Jesus has ever met Zekees, but Zekees in that moment knows that Jesus knows me. And he oriented him towards himself. He tells Zekees, today I must stand at your house. You orient him towards time. So I'm going to stay at your place, oriented him towards location.

And then he says, today's salvation has come to your house, and he orientes him towards the events that have happened. That Zichias, you know how you got into this predicament. I'm showing you how you're going to get out of this predicament. And the only possible response, how does Zakias come down? He doesn't come down grudgingly, like, God, I make Jesus some supper, I guess. He doesn't come down and say, what does Jesus want now? It says, he came down quickly and received him with joy.

Because the only possible response from someone who's desperate and lost, and they find out that change is possible, they find out that they can be found. The only possible response is joy. See, I think the problem is, too many of us are still living with the false hope that our possessions or our performance will make us happy. Zekees knew that they wouldn't. Jesus, in this moment, Jesus wrecked everything that Zekees had built, and Zekees was joyful. Because by this point in his life, Zekees realized that he,

he had built himself a trap. The life he had built for himself was a cage. And Jesus was showing him there actually is hope. There's a way out of this trap. And so he's joyful. This is the last thing. This, conversion. There's some, if we want to know,

if we've ever experienced conversion, there's a couple different markers. One of the markers of conversion is joy. One of the markers that you actually encounter Jesus, and you know that he knows your name. He knows that he's called you today. place and he's going to give you hope. One of the markers is joy, but also another marker is a changed life. At this moment, Zakias isn't just feeling differently. Sikkius is promising to live

differently. If Zakiya said, I met Jesus and it's amazing, he changed my life, and he invited him to his, he invited himself into my home, and I made dinner for him, and now I'm going back to tax collecting as ruthlessly as ever. That would not be conversion. The marker of real conversion is not only joy, but it's also I'm acting differently. I'm living differently. There's a difference in my life starting now. So we have to look at ourselves and realize, okay, here's the big invitation. In what am I placing my status?

And in what am I placing my security? Is it my possessions or is it my performance? Because if it is, maybe Jesus is asking me to do something with that. If I really want to know, if I've encountered the Lord, the idea of changing my possessions or changing my performance, does that bring joy? Does that bring a change? Or am I merely curious? The great news is, if you're desperate, there's an answer. The great news of today is if you know you need transformation, then there is hope. And the great news for today is if you know that you're

lost, well, that's good news because Jesus came for you and for me because that's why Jesus came. Not for the curious, not for those who want to improve, not for those who are okay or doing fine. But Jesus came to seek and to save what was lost.